Where Ur denotes a radial unit vector.

We assume that the nucleus remains at rest since its mass

is substantially greater and that there is no interaction with the orbiting electrons of the atomic
jellium. The latter interaction falls into the category of inelastic scattering (Sect. 3.2). For elastic
scattering, the atomic electrons only produce a screening of the nuclear charge, causing the
Coulomb force (3.1) to decrease more strongly than r-- 2 and to become zero outside the
(neutral) atom.

The central, attractive Coulomb force proportional to r-- 2 acts on the electrons like the
gravitational force of the sun on a comet, which results in hyperbolic trajectories. The scattering
angle (j decreases with increasing impact parameter b (Fig. 3.la). Electrons from a parallel beam
that pass an area dCJ are scattered into a cone of solid angle dD. The ratio dCJ / dD is called the
differential cross-section for scattering through an angle (j.

Which gives the scattering angle B in terms of the impact parameter b. The cross-section per
atom for scattering through all azimuths into a cone between Band B + dB corresponding to a
solid angle dS? = 27T sin BdB (Fig. 3.1a) becomes